Sorry, guys, a few days delay. Having a hard time getting to a computer with an internet connection.

Same timelimits as before (2h).

The items.
- crane,
- a dragon,
- a rocket launcher (RPG),
- an oil tanker,
- a lego model (anything you want, but it has to be made out of legos).

Sorry again for the delay!

rvr1982

12-02-2009, 07:53 PM

cool subjects, thanks ^^

http://ldd.lego.com/ -> is that cheating ? haha

Rafa-el

12-03-2009, 01:21 AM

cool subjects, thanks ^^

http://ldd.lego.com/ -> is that cheating ? haha

lol! i can see myself wasting some time on that site

MSus

12-03-2009, 08:19 AM

hehe, cool site.

keptin

12-03-2009, 10:43 AM

Every week you come up with the coolest random stuff. I wish I had time to do them all!

dreadfear

12-03-2009, 02:06 PM

http://imgkk.com/t/ztvdp8.png (http://imgkk.com/c/ztvdp8.png)

I went for the bird crane as opposed to the mechanical version, over modeling stationary things so yea, thats my attempt.

Not very good, but took about 20 minutes.

MSus

12-03-2009, 07:39 PM

http://imgkk.com/t/ztvdp8.png (http://imgkk.com/c/ztvdp8.png)

I went for the bird crane as opposed to the mechanical version, over modeling stationary things so yea, thats my attempt.

Not very good, but took about 20 minutes.

Please post a wireframe. Try to keep your models at 2h. If you finished early try to expand it, improve it etc.

Every week you come up with the coolest random stuff. I wish I had time to do them all!

I try at least :) Just do them when you have the time, and remember, you can do the past ones as well.

Rafa-el

12-03-2009, 10:00 PM

Heres my first try, maybe ill do the oil tanker next, but man these speed modeling sessions are awesome!! i mean im finding new ways of solving old problems and im creating new problems to solve next but at the end i really fell like my skills are starting to grow =)

Damn, i broke the forum...my images are too big, wont happen again! and i took 1hour and 47 minutes to do this!

dreadfear

12-04-2009, 03:14 AM

http://imgkk.com/t/cX0f5_.png (http://imgkk.com/c/cX0f5_.png)

Wireframe ;)

Rafa-el

12-04-2009, 03:23 AM

http://imgkk.com/t/cX0f5_.png (http://imgkk.com/c/cX0f5_.png)

Wireframe ;)

dude, make more models! thats a good start but come on! you tried for just 20 minutes, imagine what you can achieve with 2 hours of work, go for ti =)

keptin

12-04-2009, 08:48 AM

Nice launcher Rafael, good level of detail, any plans to make an RPG for it? Looks a bit like a bazooka without the distinctive RPG at the front.

Rafa-el

12-04-2009, 12:56 PM

Yeah, would you believe if i said that i realized that just now? i was so worried to finish it in time to watch the autodesk thing that i overlooked that =p , will finish it today after lunch and start working on the oil tanker. thanks man :p

keptin

12-04-2009, 01:57 PM

Haha, I would believe it! Definitely finish it, it looks great!

Here's my crane submission. I'd love to add more detail, but alas, my time is up.

Crane - 2hr

http://i46.tinypic.com/aaj39h.jpg

Rafa-el

12-04-2009, 03:13 PM

Awesome job man! loved the details on the tires! congrats

i finished the rpg, took me about 16 minutes so in general i used 3 more minutes than i should but oh well...=p heres the final model.
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/199/rpg7final1.jpg (http://img4.imageshack.us/i/rpg7final1.jpg/) http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/rpg7final1.jpg/1/w800.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img4/rpg7final1.jpg/1/)

Here's my crane submission. I'd love to add more detail, but alas, my time is up.

Crane - 2hr

http://i46.tinypic.com/aaj39h.jpg

keptin

12-04-2009, 04:24 PM

Thanks!

The final RPG looks great, a grenade up front was definitely what it needed. I'd love to to a tanker if I have time.

Digitool

12-04-2009, 10:24 PM

OK everyone, if you remember me hahaha, because I've been gone a while...

Anyway, I really appreciate the pace you guys have kept going with the challenges and done such a great job taking them over since I've had to step away for school. Finals week is this upcoming week and I need a break from studying, so I'm going to model the crane.

I got an hour into it right now... I have to get ready for work but I'll put another hour in when I get back. This is one of those huge tall cranes you generally see lifting things at power plants or other large industrial areas.

So far I spent too much time in the wrong areas for a 2 hr project, so I'm going to have to just jump into the bulk of the crane when I get home tonight.

OK everyone, if you remember me hahaha, because I've been gone a while...

Anyway, I really appreciate the pace you guys have kept going with the challenges and done such a great job taking them over since I've had to step away for school. Finals week is this upcoming week and I need a break from studying, so I'm going to model the crane.

I got an hour into it right now... I have to get ready for work but I'll put another hour in when I get back. This is one of those huge tall cranes you generally see lifting things at power plants or other large industrial areas.

So far I spent too much time in the wrong areas for a 2 hr project, so I'm going to have to just jump into the bulk of the crane when I get home tonight.

Here is my attempt at an RPG-7. Took exactly 2 hours. How did you render your image Keptin. I really like the look of that crane you did, good job. What are the max image sizes of the pictures. Sorry if mine are to big.

im still gathering reference for my oil tanker ( that doesnt count on the 2 hour time does it? =p )

Nope, it doesn't.

Can you guys make sure your posting your wireframes? It's much easier to see problem areas (topology) that way.

Anyhow, some really cool submissions so far.

@ keptin: There's some odd geometry on your front bumper type thing. That's not meant as a negative, I was just curious why you went that route (I'm talking about the three stripes that kind of bend and shift outwards).

@ digitool: Have you ever seen the episode of Dirty Jobs where Mike works on greasing up the space shuttle transporter? Reminds me of that, only slimmer. Really cool looking so far. How are you doing the treads, if I may ask?

njackson18

12-05-2009, 05:09 PM

How do you render in wireframe mode? I can take a screenshot but I have seen renders with the wireframed version. Thanks Rafa-el for the compliment. I am thinking about trying to do the oil tanker or the crane today.

Digitool

12-05-2009, 05:35 PM

well, the treads I made in a seperate file and just imported them, then duplicated and positioned... I wasn't sure if I could get by using deformers for any of it, but I usually model my vehicle tires in a flat surface and use a deformer to wrap it around. It's so much easier that way but the treads took forever to get lined up.

I do remember that episode of dirty jobs, i love that show. You rememberthe one where he had to keep trash out of the tracks of the equipment at the landfill?

keptin

12-05-2009, 11:13 PM

@ keptin: There's some odd geometry on your front bumper type thing. That's not meant as a negative, I was just curious why you went that route (I'm talking about the three stripes that kind of bend and shift outwards).

If you're referring to the cab, the geometry was ok until I beveled it. I didn't try to correct it since I planned to rebuild the cab, but ran out of time.

Digitool

12-06-2009, 10:30 AM

Man I wish I had more than 2 hrs for this model! I really want to finish it, but here's what I came into at 2 hrs...

Here is my oil tanker that I did last night. It is not finished and I am going to continue working on it, but this is as far as I could with the two hours. I also tried to play with the lighting a bit to give it a more artsy feel, but it was a real quick test.

took me the full 2 hours i spent a lot of time trying to make the windows using less polys and then i just used boolean and end up with this, is it too bad to use boolean to make windows? i also didnt get the time to add the propellers but oh well...maybe i will add them later, ill try to get some time tomorrow and make a dragon try, i suuuuuck at organic modeling but hey, i guess this is what those speed modeling sessions are about right?

rico271

12-07-2009, 01:34 AM

here are me tanker and crane
i think it took around 2h or more i kinda working on it on on and off
http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/2354/crane.jpg
By rico27 (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/rico27) at 2009-12-06
http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/6343/oiltank.jpg
By rico27 (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/rico27) at 2009-12-06

jakeh14

12-07-2009, 03:28 PM

took me the full 2 hours i spent a lot of time trying to make the windows using less polys and then i just used boolean and end up with this, is it too bad to use boolean to make windows?

As you can see in the geometry, boolean doesn't really do the best job in creating topology. I can't speak for everyone, but many folks I've spoken with say steer clear of using boolean. There are probably situations where it would be alright, but I just avoid using it at all if I can help it. Also, Boolean objects (in 3ds max anyhow) in the past have had the tendency to become corrupt and crash your scene.

Rafa-el

12-07-2009, 04:42 PM

As you can see in the geometry, boolean doesn't really do the best job in creating topology. I can't speak for everyone, but many folks I've spoken with say steer clear of using boolean. There are probably situations where it would be alright, but I just avoid using it at all if I can help it. Also, Boolean objects (in 3ds max anyhow) in the past have had the tendency to become corrupt and crash your scene.

so thats why my max was crashing...anyways, i usualy would just add more loops to the geometry and extrude/delete the windows but i was trying to find a alternative way of doing that, good to know that booleans dont exactly give me less polys and can also crash my system, thanks for the tip man!

Miikey87

12-07-2009, 04:52 PM

Good evening all,

The following is the sequence of events of my attempt to participate with a bit of a background story as well. I did about 3 months of teaching myself Maya and through 3DBuzz's Maya Fundamentals DVD in the evenings after work and uni about a year ago before I went away to Europe. I just got back and have been craving to get involved and start in Maya again.

Last week I started working my way through the first Polygon project on the 3DBUZZ Advanced Modelling DVD's modelling a SOCOM pistol. I finished that a few days ago and have been doing a few small things to try to increase my skills. I havent yet made it to NURBS or SUBD modelling yet, I cant remember doing this it was such a long time ago as well! The 7 hour SOCOM project went by so fast, I cant wait to continue learning again.

So this is the model that I have ended up with after 2 hours, using only a Cube, Extrudes, Move, Scale, Rotate, merge Verticies, Append Pollygon Tool, Insert Edge Loop Tool and Cut Faces Tool and playing with the Verticies and Edges.

So I decided to start to draw with my tablet I picked up ages ago ** I havent even attempted to draw since I was a little kid probably 15 years ago** Well as you can see in the following picture, my dragon well looks like a dinosour **I didnt put wings in on the drawing as it would have blocked the character** In hindsight it really looks like the Toy Story dinosaur with wings! And you can tell I havent drawn for ages as well.

Basically I used the drawing as a reference and started to model out the character with a cube and kept on extruding and adding more edge loops and detail when needed. I have learnt so far that I should be extruding to add eyes and nostrils, mouths etc as adding edge loops doesnt allow you to select all contiguous edges in that area and adds too much detail all over the model! Something for me to keep in mind for my next attempt as well, this being my first attempt at something organic.

As you can see I have just blocked out the character, over the two hour period I didnt have enough time to really shape the character, hence why he looks all blocky and flat or even give him any form of muscle structure.

Also should I be leaving the model in the smoothed view or is it better to put it into a proxy? I used the proxy to do some modelling on my gun except when i accidently deleted the original mesh it was a pain to work with, with all of the extra detail!

I just realised that I didn't extrude my feet properly, supposed to be a gap between the toes! Oh well something to consider in the future :)

I really decided to participate in this forum to push myself to try something new. I am fairly happy with him after only returning to the world of 3D just over a week ago.

I would love some critism to help improve my skills and hope to keep on participating in the future :)

jakeh14

12-08-2009, 01:27 AM

so thats why my max was crashing...anyways, i usualy would just add more loops to the geometry and extrude/delete the windows but i was trying to find a alternative way of doing that, good to know that booleans dont exactly give me less polys and can also crash my system, thanks for the tip man!

No worries man. As far as making windows, I don't know of any easy way to do them aside from manually carving them out as you've described. You could check out the Extended Primitives if you use 3ds max (I don't know when they introduced these, but they are essentially primitives made for architects/AutoCAD users).

@ Miikey87: The technique you used for this dragon is called "Box Modeling." There are many other techniques out there, and your best bet is to use multiple techniques in each model. I think for a box model this is pretty effective, but I'll bet that as you used it you realized the limitations in it as well. Myself, I'd probably lean towards using this in rigid body models, but that's just me. I'll occasionally use this method for limbs, but then I use a cylinder with the caps deleted to connect to something else.

I'm not too familiar with proxy objects, but from what I gather they're placeholders in a scene for another object housed in another file (sound about right? please correct me if not). For the models you work on here, it shouldn't be necessary.

:-D About to play with some legoes! I might pound out another model tonight as well...wish me luck!

Digitool

12-08-2009, 01:30 AM

welcome to the challenges!!!

Good to see ppl tryin to bone up on their modeling skills!

My advice is to model the more mechanical things. Organic tends to be a little tougher to model for starters... Just keep plugging away at the challenges and it will come more natural and easier.

It's good to have your participating...

Miikey87

12-08-2009, 02:15 AM

Ive stayed away from connecting different objects and shapes together as it seems that when i combine the objects and merge the joining vertices up and make sure that the object flows I always seem to get pinching on the object at the vertices once i smooth the model.

Cant wait to get involved with next weeks challenge :)

jakeh14

12-10-2009, 02:47 AM

Here's my final Lego piece (pun intended). The lighting sucks, I know, but when you have 467000 polys workin' against ya, you don't fight the machine too much. Plus rendering was really starting to &%*# me off. I thought a rendered still would be more interesting than just seeing the wireframe of 25000 copies of the same object.

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